Psychologist advises folk to be mindful amid crisis

NAGA CITY --- Too much anxieties brought about by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis affect mental health, which result in unhealthy conditions of the body, a clinical psychologist said during a health forum here.

Techie Duran-Dy, a clinical psychologist and a candidate for a doctoral degree in the University of the Philippines cited the benefits of mindfulness to people living during today’s unpredictable and uncontrollable crisis.

Dy discussed this on Thursday, May 21 in a health forum sponsored by the PhilAm Life entitled “Journeying in Times of Uncertainty and Mental Health Care During Covid-19”.

She said that hard situations experienced due to the Covid-19 threatened mental health by worrying on family, friends, health, and finances.

The mind is like a monkey that brings a person from one tree to another when anxious, Dy said. She said fear is natural during this crisis and anxiety is not dangerous and appropriate but too much anxieties trap the mind.

She advised people that in times of anxiety while the brain is busy, they should inhale in two seconds and exhale in two seconds.

Dy recommended breathing exercise and mindfulness as tools for dealing with complex thoughts. She elaborated that mindfulness is beneficial to the mind because it improves focus, memory, patience, and concentration.

She said mindfulness makes a person calm, develops coping mechanism with stress, and delays ageing of the brain.

Mindfulness also benefits the body as it reduces muscle tension and blood pressure, and improves cardiovascular efficiency, immune system, blood circulation, and lymph, Dy said.